In my last series of posts about moving to London with a trailing spouse or partner, I structured the challenges of an international relocation around one’s hierarchy of need, as theorized by Maslow. I’d kept this explanation in terms of the accompanying spouse, who is arguably most sensitive to the changes, but, really, this can apply to anyone making the London move. I figure before I move on to blog about other London topics, I’ll give one more nod to Maslow’s pyramid of needs so that you can see how London Relocation’s services specifically will satisfy your essential needs as a future London expat.

If you’re moving to London for work and bringing a spouse or partner in tow, ya know, I think I started this series last week with YOU in mind all along…

As an accompanying spouse myself, I’ve been documenting the challenges of relocating to London on behalf of someone else (Part 1), how those challenges result from the toppling of an individual’s hierarchy of needs based on Maslow’s theory (Part 2), how this hierarchy of need specifically related to my own international relocation (Part 3), how couples can take preventative measures to minimize these challenges (Part 4), and how trailing spouses can reactively cope with them (Part 5). Working spouses who are the reason for the London relocation, Part 6 is for you… [read more]

It’s not only those accompanying spouses who are giving up a job to move to London that can suffer an emotional setback; even stay-at-home partners are going to trip down their Maslow hierarchy of needs a bit in the absence of a familiar environment and existing family and friend network. In my last post (Part 4), I listed some key talking points that will help couples outline their post-relocation expectations of one another—i.e., what roles they will fulfill after making the London move as far as contributing financially and/or domestically. But to work effectively as a team, let’s assume some individual accountability… [read more]

What’s key to understand is that while the accompanying spouse or partner is likely the one to take the brunt of the relocation stress, it takes two to tango, as they say. Both partners involved are going to be affected by the phenomenon I outlined in Part 2 and Part 3—that is, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs getting whittled down, layer by layer. I can’t pretend to understand all factors involved in your relationship and general circumstances, but I do have some important advice to share that addresses the common scenarios I’ve observed across assorted London expat couples, and I’ll do so coming from both points of view of the employed and trailing spouse.

So. If you haven’t moved to London yet, you’re in a really good position to start having some serious pre-relocation talks. You probably already have concerning a number of matters, but make sure you specifically outline expectations of what one another’s role will be post-relocation… [read more]

Whether you’re relocating to London for a job and bringing a spouse/partner in tow or you are that spouse/partner moving to London for your loved one’s career, then this series of posts is for both of you. I started out on Thursday explaining the...